Finished! A bodice ripper set in 18th Century Caribbean, starring a tortured pirate and a stubborn widow. The first chapter began life as a slighty silly short story Ravished by a Pirate but I enjoyed writing it so much I've changed the ending to turn it into the first chapter of a novel.

Chapters:

Letitia had lost her memory but she
somehow knew that this kiss was no ordinary one. The man's lips
were hot and hard against hers, his tongue forcing her mouth open
and plunging into her. It was not a gentleman's kiss. But then,
she reminded herself, he was a pirate and they were in a
brothel.

She tentatively touched his shoulders
which were broad and straining under the fine linen of his shirt,
as his hands buried into her hair pulling out some of the pins.
His mouth left hers and trailed seering kisses across her jaw and
then down her throat. A groan was coming from deep in his chest
and it frightened her. She whimpered slightly and tried to pull
away from his firm hold.

"Oh my darling Marie," he groaned
against her neck, "I thought I had lost you."

She froze. What had he just said? As
his hand found its way over her waist towards her breasts, she
feebly tried to push him away.

"What did you just call
me?"

"Marie, that is you name," he said,
his eyes dark with arousal.

"My name?" she stammered. "You know
me?"

"Of course I know you! You are my
fiancee!"

"But…?" she did not know what to
say.

"You were kidnapped, practically from
under my nose and I have been searching for you ever
since."

"I am engaged to a pirate?" she asked
incredulously.

"Secretly," he said, "No one knows
yet."

She stared at his mesmerizing face.
Even if he was the most compelling man she had ever seen, or
thought she had ever seen, she could not believe she would
entertain a pirate and certainly not be engaged to
one.

But when he kissed her again and made
her head swim with the intoxicating pleasure of it, she had to
concede that maybe she had done this before.

***

Hanson was not happy. He had been
dragged from the bed of a deliciously accommodating blonde who
was at that moment asking him if her friend could join
them.

"Have you gone mad?" he asked his
Captain.

"Possibly," Tom replied, stroking a
hand over his shaved head.

"It's your number one rule: No Women
on Board Ship."

"Do you think we could disguise
her?"

Hanson snorted, "Does she look like a
boy?"

Tom pictured the lovely breasts that
almost spilled over the neck line of her dress and imagined
cutting the lustrous hair. "No," he said.

"Leave her here. Bella is a
reasonably kind mistress."

"Her husband owed me and I am
determined to have my debt repaid."

Hanson raised a perfectly shaped
eyebrow. He knew the Black Orchid too well to think that was his
true motivation.

"She's not a whore," Tom sighed
wearily, "She's a Lady and I feel honour bound to protect
her."

Hanson laughed, "That would be a
Pirate's honour, would it?"

His Captain looked wretched, as if he
could hardly believe he was doing this. He was clearly being
guided by powers beyond his control and Hanson knew all about the
lure of the fair sex.

"OK. We'll tell the crew she's a
hostage. Now give me half an hour," and he returned to bed to
give the blonde a farewell she would not forget in a long
time.

***

Back on board 'The Innocent' Tom
could breathe a sigh of relief. It was the dead of night and they
smuggled the Lady on board without anyone seeing. The
explanations could wait until the morrow. Hanson was turfed out
of his cabin and 'Marie' was left to enjoy her first night in a
narrow berth.

Bella had
been her usual accommodating self, although she clearly found it
hard to believe that The Black Orchid was engaged to be married.
She became less suspicious when a bag of gold coins was pressed
into her hand. Letitia herself remained confused and doubtful but
passively allowed them to lead her from her house of refuge. As
she was led through the dark town, she wondered if there were two
more handsome pirates in the Caribbean and if that had made this
strange revelation a little easier to bear.

Tom lay
awake in his own berth hardly believing what he had done. He had
been ready to crush that nefarious thought that had come into his
head but then he had kissed her and he had been lost once again.
The kiss was not quite the same as he had imagined. He had been a
little disappointed with how tentative she had been. When he had
stood at the end of her bed on that sultry night and she had
scorched that hot gaze over his body, he had imagined she would
kiss with passion and an uncontrollable fever. But there was time
to rekindle the fire.

For once,
he had no real plan. He had some idea that he would keep her
captive until they found a relative or someone they could hand
her over to, maybe even win a ransome of some kind. In the
meantime, she would be safe and not having to service greedy
aristocrats and lascivious pirates. Yes, the irony did hit him,
but he had no intention of forcing her into anything. He had no
doubts about his self control. By the time he had finished with
her, she would come to him of her own free will and beg him to
bed her.